He smiles. “Where’d you get these? These are awesome?”
“Online,” I say.
“Very cool.”
Ray comes back to the table looking agitated.
He gestures to the wok with a look of disdain.
“Fuck sakes,” he mutters and lets out a heavy sigh.
“There’s some of that Irish stew leftover in the fridge from last night,” I say.
“Leftovers? You know I don’t eat nuked shit.” Ray rolls his eyes.
Since when? This guy will eat food cold out of the fridge. Or even out of a can.
“This looks delicious, Violet. If the ass-wipe doesn’t wanna eat it, he can order a pizza or heat up his own stew on the stove,” Killian says pointedly. “Tofu and sesame seeds, too. Nice touch.”
Ray’s face goes blank for a second and then he lets out a belated chuckle. “Does smell good, even if there’s no steak. My girl can cook, man. You should taste her steaks.” He jerks his chin up at me. “Vi, serve it up. We’ll just need you to whip up some snacks in an hour, kay, babe?”
Killian shoots him a look that tells him what I’m thinking and stands up, proceeding to serve himself. “It’s in the middle of the table, asshole. We can serve ourselves. This goddess is in a business suit. She work all day?”
Ray says nothing, but his eyes flare with what I know is masked anger.
Killian takes this all in as he continues. “She worked all day while you played the ponies? You shoulda been home makin’ her a meal,” Killian continues to fill the dish with food.
“My goddess likes taking care of me,” Ray defends. “Don’t be jealous, man.” Ray laughs.
Killian rolls his eyes as he switches bowls with me, serving me the food he’d just taken and then reaches again into the wok to serve himself. He sits. Ray glares at me before he rises and spoons food into his own bowl.
“Fuckin’ hate these,” Ray grumbles not two seconds after sitting, forking snow peas and water chestnuts out of his bowl, and dropping them on the tablecloth – the fresh tablecloth I had just put on the table.
Could have had left it in his dish? Or maybe used his napkin? I want to growl, but I know better.
“You know this, Vi.”
“Oh, I forgot,” I say.
In reality, I didn’t expect him here. I figured by the time he got home, he’d have eaten or would eat the rest of the stew in the fridge, or cold ravioli out of a can before he staggered to bed.
“Forgot,” he mumbles under his breath. “Fuckin’ makes salad for dinner sometimes. Or eggs in a pie. Who wants that for dinner? You put these things in here to piss me off?”
“This is great, Violet,” Killian says enthusiastically. “And I like quiche.”
“Thank you,” I say softly. “And it was a dinner salad. It had lots of stuff in it. I didn’t think you’d be here tonight, or I wouldn’t have put in the things you don’t like, Ray.”
“Yeah, I dig some of those. What kind of dinner salads do you make?” Killian asks.
I start telling him about an avocado and chicken caprese salad I used to get asked to make for potlucks, but Ray cuts me off.
“Get us another beer, Vi?”
“Sure.”
My chopsticks have been mid-air as I was talking, so I put them down and head to the fridge for beers. When I get back, Killian is giving Ray a death stare. I hand beers to the both of them but then see Killian hasn’t nearly finished his first one.
“Oh, I’ll put that back.”
“Or you can sit and eat after working all day and then coming home and making dinner, Violet,” he says softly.
The tone he uses, for some reason, it makes me want to burst into tears. I pull my lips tight, and my bowl of noodles, chicken, tofu, and vegetables looks blurry through the wetness in my eyes. My heart is thumping really hard, and my chest feels hollow, but I know I’ve got to hold myself together.
Ray repeatedly makes an ass of himself through the meal, telling bullshit stories to make him sound like his life is sweet and he has his shit together. He does almost all of the talking and Killian doesn’t seem bothered by it, more like he’s taking it all in with avid interest.
As soon as I put my chopsticks down and wipe my mouth, shoving the bowl away about to speak, Killian stands. “Me ‘n Raymond are on clean-up. You go put your feet up. Or take a bubble bath. You run this girl bubble baths after a long day at work, man?”
Before I realize it, I show a pretty obvious scoffing reaction at that suggestion. Ray’s got his eyes on me and I know that look. I know it and I don’t like it. It’s the look he gets just before he turns mean.